I know this post has a rather unusual title - hopefully that's part of what's gained your attention. Because it has such an unusual title, I should spend a moment or two talking about it and why I chose it before continuing.
First, for those unfamiliar, A11Y is the numeronym used when we talk about accessibility. In this instance, I'm playing off how the word resembles "ally" because a one looks like a lowercase L...which means A11Y squared is really an "Accessibility Ally".
So, what is an Accessibility Ally?
Merriam-Webster defines an “ally” as “one that is associated with another as a helper”, so a short answer to the question “what is an accessibility ally” is “someone that helps improve or enable accessibility”.
Why is that important? In First World countries, roughly 10 percent of adults under the age of 65 have a speech, hearing, visual, or motor impairment that significantly affects their life. That number increases to approximately 25 percent for adults between the ages of 65 and 75. Having a website that is not accessible impacts that group significantly.
At this point, organizations generally use the reasoning that no one is complaining about the accessibility of their website, so there are no problems. The lack of complaints in the business world has a long history of being a poor indicator of performance. We know that roughly 10 percent of customers who experience an issue complain to the organization and the other 90 percent are drops. In the UK, it's estimated that 90 percent of users who experience an accessibility issue and do not complain but drop instead represent nearly £12 billion (GBP) in lost revenue.
If the loss of revenue were not enough, there are legal ramifications to be considered as well. In the US, the number of cases regarding web accessibility filed in a Federal Court increases nearly four-fold every year. In 2016, there were approximately 200 cases identified as having been filed, so look for around 800 cases to be filed in 2017.
If legal cases and loss of revenue were not enough to make an organization reconsider lack of accessibility, there are ethical issues as well as a matter of fairness and equal access.
There is a lot to accessibility on the web. It sounds simple enough to make a web page accessible - and that false impression is not helped by the general concept that anyone can make a web page - but there are a host of issues with which designers and developers must become familiar and there are a number of places in the design and development process where we can get off track. However, as we know from other development activities, writing code the right way is always less expensive than fixing it later.
So, become an Accessibility Ally - learn what needs to be done and do it. In the long run, learning what needs to be done and doing it takes less time than going back and fixing it (which you would have to do if a court case were filed), and it may even increase your revenue.
Happy coding.
So, what is an Accessibility Ally?
Merriam-Webster defines an “ally” as “one that is associated with another as a helper”, so a short answer to the question “what is an accessibility ally” is “someone that helps improve or enable accessibility”.
Why is that important? In First World countries, roughly 10 percent of adults under the age of 65 have a speech, hearing, visual, or motor impairment that significantly affects their life. That number increases to approximately 25 percent for adults between the ages of 65 and 75. Having a website that is not accessible impacts that group significantly.
At this point, organizations generally use the reasoning that no one is complaining about the accessibility of their website, so there are no problems. The lack of complaints in the business world has a long history of being a poor indicator of performance. We know that roughly 10 percent of customers who experience an issue complain to the organization and the other 90 percent are drops. In the UK, it's estimated that 90 percent of users who experience an accessibility issue and do not complain but drop instead represent nearly £12 billion (GBP) in lost revenue.
If the loss of revenue were not enough, there are legal ramifications to be considered as well. In the US, the number of cases regarding web accessibility filed in a Federal Court increases nearly four-fold every year. In 2016, there were approximately 200 cases identified as having been filed, so look for around 800 cases to be filed in 2017.
If legal cases and loss of revenue were not enough to make an organization reconsider lack of accessibility, there are ethical issues as well as a matter of fairness and equal access.
There is a lot to accessibility on the web. It sounds simple enough to make a web page accessible - and that false impression is not helped by the general concept that anyone can make a web page - but there are a host of issues with which designers and developers must become familiar and there are a number of places in the design and development process where we can get off track. However, as we know from other development activities, writing code the right way is always less expensive than fixing it later.
So, become an Accessibility Ally - learn what needs to be done and do it. In the long run, learning what needs to be done and doing it takes less time than going back and fixing it (which you would have to do if a court case were filed), and it may even increase your revenue.
Happy coding.
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